Season 2' shares behind-the-scenes peek at 'Downton Abbey'

"Downton Abbey: The Complete Scripts, Season 2" is by Julian Fellowes.

Editor’s note: For fans of the British period drama “Downton Abbey,” the fifth season can’t come too soon. In the meantime, this is one of a half a dozen books — both novels and nonfiction — that have crossed our desks that have an upstairs/downstairs drama, are set in a similar era or may be of interest to fans of the historical series.

“DOWNTON ABBEY: The Complete Scripts, Season 2,” by Julian Fellowes, William Morrow, $19.99, 581 pages (f)The fifth season of the British period drama “Downton Abbey” is in the works, but how much do you remember about the second season?

All of the daughters are single at the beginning of the season, but matrimony is in the offing. Matthew Crawley and Thomas Barrow are at the warfront, Downton Abbey is turned into a convalescent home for officers, Mr. Bates’ estranged wife shows up, Sybil becomes a nurse and there is that whole Spanish flu ordeal, among other story lines.

“The Complete Scripts, Season 2” includes notes from Julian Fellowes about the scenes and what they were trying to accomplish in just a few lines, along with some of the historical background as well as deleted lines from the scripts. It also includes some full-color photos with memorable lines from each character.

“The Complete Scripts, Season 2” gives an interesting peek into the production of the show, including, for example, an explanation about why Mary was outside without a coat in the last scene of the series.

Fellowes mentions that not all of the lines in the script ended up word-for-word in the series because actors may have altered them.The second season “sees our characters face the ultimate test of war,” Fellowes writes in the introduction. “Some are strengthened by the ordeal, a couple are defeated, but all of them are changed.”

“Downton Abbey: The Complete Scripts, Season 2” contains mild sexual references. The war violence is mostly implied rather than described, and the language is clean.